Majority in US and UK Said They’d Interact with Mobile Olympics Ads

As Olympics fever continues to sweep the globe, approximately three out of four US and UK consumers said they’ll follow their country’s team on their mobile device, according to a 396 respondent study conducted by Internet Advertising Bureau and mobile advertising network, Mojiva.

The study, which aimed to determine how British and American consumers would use their mobiles to follow the Olympics, also found that 20 percent of US respondents would search for products and services sponsored by their team or athletes, compared to 12 percent in the UK. When it comes to following national teams, the numbers were a little more on par: 76 percent of UK respondents said they would be more likely to use their mobile devices to follow their country’s team during the games, compared to 73 percent of US respondents.

The findings were even closer in terms of using a mobile device for Olympics related activities while watching the games on TV. Forty-seven percent of UK and 48 percent of US respondents said they would do so. US and UK respondents were also tied in terms of their reported likelihood to watch the Olympics live on their mobile devices with 22 percent of both audiences claiming that they would do so.

The study was conducted on the Mojiva network between July 9 and July 26, the day before the 2012 games began.

Looking at how respondents said they would interact with mobile ads to get more information, 62 percent of Brits said they’d interact with ads sometimes compared to 60 percent Americans. Another 32 percent of British respondents showed a higher likelihood to interact with ads frequently, compared to 25 percent of American respondents.

“When we looked at how US and UK consumers planned to use their mobile devices during the 2012 London Olympics, we saw many similarities in the types of content and the frequency of use,” said Amy Vale, VP, global research and strategic communications at Mojiva. “However, the types of mobile ads that users from each country are more likely to interact with varied quite drastically. What this tells us is that understanding who mobile users are, what they’e looking for and where they are located is vital for brands to connect with consumers in smart, relevant and engaging ways,” she continued.

UK respondents also said they were more likely than those in the US to pay attention to an ad from an official sponsor. According Vale, this may be due to sponsor companies having more visibility in their host country. US respondents, on the other hand, were much more likely than UK users to highlight ads featuring athletes they like.